What Does MACD Actually Read on SPY 5-minute Charts?
Educational reference. Measured from 9,548 recorded values on SPDR S&P 500 ETF 5-minute charts through September 4, 2026.
The middle half of all readings sat between -0.2037 and 0.3107, with a median of 0.0499.
MACD measures the distance between two moving averages of price, so it describes momentum shifting rather than price itself. This page reports what it actually read on SPDR S&P 500 ETF 5-minute charts — not what it is supposed to do, but the distribution of 9,548 recorded values over the last 90 days.
| Series | Median | Middle half | 5th / 95th | Full range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MacD | 0.0499 | -0.2037 – 0.3107 | -0.8156 / 0.9540 | -3.57 – 16.63 |
| Avg | 0.0553 | -0.2012 – 0.3042 | -0.7961 / 0.8990 | -3.39 – 14.55 |
| Diff | -0.005248 | -0.0788 – 0.0695 | -0.2672 / 0.2821 | -2.18 – 7.16 |
The median is the middle reading, so a single unusual session cannot drag it. The middle half is where MACD sat on half of all bars — the range you should expect to see most of the time on this chart.
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How this was measured
Every 5-minute bar of SPDR S&P 500 ETF recorded in the last 90 days was read, and the values grouped without smoothing or filtering. Series with fewer than 400 readings are omitted rather than shown on thin evidence. These are recorded values, not forecasts.